Murder Takes a Vacation (2025) by Laura Lippman

 

💙 Mrs. Muriel Blossom is an American widow of 60-something, with insecurity problem, because she is a natural plump, and therefore has a knack of blending into the background. That, and with her sharp intelligent, Mrs. Blossom had worked as private investigator's assistant in the past. That she is currently involved in a murder and theft case, is pure coincidental. You see, the moment Mrs. Blossom had found a winning lottery ticket in a parking lot, 'her faith has been sealed', so to speak. She immediately booked a luxurious cruise to France on MS Solitaire, for herself and her bestfriend Eleanor. However, she indulged herself a trip to London, alone, before the cruise. On the flight, she was 'upgraded' to business class (her first time experience), and it was then that she met a gallant and charming middle aged man called Allan. It's been a long time that Mrs. Blossoms felt like a woman - attended to, flirted to - even kissed to - by a handsome man, and she was flattered and enamoured with this Allan. However, before anything could follow, she heard the news that Allan was dead - fallen from  the balcony of his hotel in Paris (while he said he was on the way to somewhere else).

💙 After that, mysterious incidents keep happening to Mrs. Blossom. Someone has been searching through her belongings at the hotel; then a theft attempted to snatch her purse at a cafe - what is really going on? A stylish called Danny is suddenly so helpful to Mrs. Blossoms, but who later on confesses he's actually an FBI agent and/or insurance agency investigator. He is always around Mrs. Blossom, even when she's on board the MS Solitaire - why is he following her? Then his story about Allan embroiling in stolen antiques - an invaluable statue with sapphire eyes - were any of this true? And if Allan did try to smuggle the statue through customs, and had been using her, Mrs. Blossoms, inadvertently, where is this statue now? Mrs. Blossoms has been searching through her belongings, nothing's there. 💙 I was surprised that a person such as Mrs. Blossom, who has worked as investigator's assistant, could not think or has a tiny suspicion about how Allan had been using her. It was clear as light, and I had been thinking from the beginning that that little 'incident' would prove to be how part of the crime would be commit. But no, Mrs. Blossoms is as oblivion and unsuspecting as any layman can be, even after learning that the man she thought loved her was proved to be a crooked one. Moreover, as a cozy mystery, this one is way much too cozy to be a mystery at all. Mrs. Blossom is NOT an amateur sleuth; she has never intended to investigate. She's just trying to enjoy her holiday - which she doesn't really deserve anyway, as it was paid by sheer luck (finding a winning lottery at a parking lot), despite of mysterious things that's happening around her - though she did sometimes wonder (why? how?) It only gets spiced up a little on the last two or three chapters, and Mrs. Blossom realized the truth only on a whim, not by intelligence. 💙 While the river cruise along the Seine is pretty promising, I didn't feel like being on a cruise at all. What I liked most is perhaps the character development in Muriel Blossom. The rest is just okay, though Kimberly Farr as the narrator of the audiobook did a nice job here, it's quite enjoyable as a light read. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐